Spanish WorldTour team Euskaltel-Euskadi has confirmed that it will fold at
the end of the season after failing to secure sufficient sponsorship funds
to continue trading next season.

The news will come as a bitter blow to Spanish cycling, and particularly the Basque region from where the Euskaltel-Euskadi team derive, just days ahead of the Vuelta a España.

During last month's Tour de France the team announced that they were pursuing additional sponsorship after telecommunications company Euskaltel revealed it could no longer back the team in light of the economic crisis that has crippled Spain.

Prior to the team's search for a second sponsor, they revealed that Euskaltel had increased its funding from €3.5 million a year to €7m for 2013 - out of an overall budget of €9m - but that it could not maintain that level of backing.

Euskaltel-Euskadi on Tuesday said their search for a second sponsor had failed.

"Euskaltel-Euskadi is unable to continue next season," the Basque team said. "It is a sad day for Euskaltel, for the team, for the current sponsors, for the fans and for everyone who has supported this project.

"We are sad that no company or entity has decided to back this team, the oldest in the world of elite cycling.

"From this moment on Euskaltel will start an orderly and responsible close down of the project including immediate negotiations to free up the members of the team," they said.

Samuel Sánchez will lead the nine-man team including Igor Antón, Mikel Nieve, Egoi Martínez, Gorka Verdugo, Jorge Azanza, Juanjo Oroz, Pablo Urtasun and Mikel Landa in their final grand tour which starts with a 27-kilometre team time trial from Vilanova de Arousa to Sanxenxo in Galicia on Saturday.

Meanwhile, no riders tested positive for doping at the Tour de France, the International Cycling Union said on Tuesday, after the complete analysis of 622 samples.